SPRUCE - COMMERCIAL WOOD Like the term "cedar," the word "spruce" covers a number of species both Eastern and Western. Important from the wood-using standpoint are the red spruce (Picea rubens), which is abundant in New England, and extends southward on the mountain ranges as far as North Carolina; black spruce (Picea mariana), which occurs in the northern part of the range of the red spruce and in the Lake States; and white spruce (Picea canadensis), which is the principal spruce of the Lake States. These species are the largest source of wood for paper pulp, and also furnish all the spruce lumber manufactured in the East. In the Rocky Mountain region, the spruce which is most manufactured into lumber is Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmanni); while, in the Pacific Northwest, Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) is the chief source of spruce lumber. Of all these species, red spruce and Sitka spruce are by far the most abundant and important.
The wood of the spruces is very light in weight, soft, even-grained, and easily worked, even exceeding white pine in this respect. Spruce is stiff and strong in proportion to its weight. One Table 100 Factory Uses of Spruce Purpose Per Cent Mill Work 44 Boxes and Crates 42 Musical Instruments 4 Woodenware, Novelties, etc. 4 Tanks and Silos 1 Other Uses 4 Total 100 of the most exacting demands among the industries is that of wood for piano sounding boards; and for this purpose spruce has long been the chief supply. Recently spruce has found a new use in the manufacture of aeroplanes.
The factory uses reported for spruce without distinction of species are indicated in Table 100.
Eastern spruce is credited in the reports with being used in the manufacture of : Agricultural implements Mandolins Aeroplanes Match cases Boats Moldings Boat oars Molding flasks Bowling alleys Musical instruments Boxes Novelties Broom handles Organ pipes Bungs Paddles Butter tubs Patterns Cable reels and spools Piano backs Cameras Piano benches Canoes Piano cases Car sheathing Piano ribs Crates Piano sounding-boards Doors Pipe organs Elevator platforms Player actions Farm machinery Refrigerators (inside partiFiber board tions) Fixtures, backing Scaffolding Fixtures, linings Ships • Fixtures, office Shiplap Fixtures, store Silos Flag poles Skids Flooring Sleds Furniture (hidden parts) Spars Guitars Tables (ironing) Hay presses Tables (folding) Ice boxes Tanks Interior finish Tubs Keyboards Vehicles Ladder sides Woodenware Sitka spruce is used for: Apparatus (playground) Pulleys Balusters (porch) Refrigerator rooms Baskets Refrigerators Blinds Ribs (mandolin) Boxes Ribs (piano) Breadboards Rims (guitar) Brooders (poultry) Sash Caskets Scale parts Cornice brackets Siding (wagon beds) Decking (boats) Sounding-boards Door frames Sounding-boards (guitar) Doors Spars (boats) Furniture Store fronts Fixtures Trunks Ironing boards Washboards Ladders Wheel slats (windmill) Organ parts Windmill parts Organ pipes Window frames Porchwork Woodenware